What is the difference between an update and an update combo?
iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)
The combo update will update all previous versions of a Mac OS X release. The other one won’t.
For example, the Mac OS X 10.11.4 combo update can be run on 10.11 through 10.11.3, while the regular updater will only update 10.11.3. Neither will update 10.10.5 or earlier.
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MORE INFO ON WHY RUNNING COMBO FIXES ISSUES
Apple updates available from the Software Update application are incremental updates. Delta updates are also incremental updates and are available from Apple Downloads (software updates are generally smaller than delta updates). The Combo updates contain all incremental updates and will update files that could have become corrupted.
Combo updaters will install on the same version as they're applying--no need to roll back or do a clean install.
"Delta" updaters can only take you from one version to the next. For example: 10.10.4 to 10.10.5. If somehow the 10.10.4 is missing something it should have, and that something isn't changed between 10.10.4 and 10.10.5 it will still be stale after the delta update.
What is the difference between an update and an update combo?
